



^ 



1673. 1873 

HISTORICAL SKETCHES 

Dunstable. Mass, 
bi-centennial 

ORATION 



Hon. -George B\ Loring, 



September 17, 1873. 



Lowell, Mass. 

GEORGE M. ELLIOTT, PUBLISHER, 

No. 48 Central Street. 

1873. 



>'5r 



ORATION. 



My Friends and Fellow-Citizens : — 

I have accepted your invitation to deliver this address on the occasion 
of the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of your town, with 
great reluctance and many misgivings. I cannot expect to share with you 
all those hallowed memories which spring up in your minds and warm 
your hearts, whose homes are on this spot, whose ancestors repose 
beneath this sod, whose hearthstones are here, whose eyes have beheld 
the domestic scenes and whose hearts have felt the joys and sorrows 
which make up the story you would most gladly hear to-day. To you 
who enjoy this spot as home, the church, this village green, these farm- 
houses, every field and wooded hill, the highway and the by-path, the 
valley and the brook, all tell a tale of tender interest, to you who remember 
the events of childhood here, to you who to-day return from long wander- 
ings, to you who have remained and have brought this municipality on to 
an honorable era in its history, to you who turn aside to hnger over the 
grave of a beloved parent, and to you who still pause and drop a tear on 
that little mound where your child has lain so long and from which, 
through all the years that have passed since it left you, its sweet voice 
has been heard, reminding you of your duty in this world and assuring 
you of the peace and joy of the world to come. To me, indeed, the 
domestic record of this town, the most sacred record to you, is, as it were, 
a sealed volume, open only to my gaze as a member of the same human 
family with yourselves, and as one feeling that common sympathy which 
binds, as with a silver cord, all the sons of God into one great brother- 
hood. While, therefore, I cannot intrude upon the sacredness of your 
firesides, nor claim a seat in your domestic circle, nor expect to be admitted 
within the railing of your altar, I can call to your minds those events in 
the history of your town which have established its intimate relations 
with that interesting experiment of society and State which has been 
worked out on this continent during the last two hundred years. 

WHAT A NEW ENGLAND TOWN IS. 
In celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of a New England town, 
the peculiar and extraordinary nature of a civil organization of this kind 



should not be forgotten, especially by those who enjoy the high privileges 
which belong to it. To many nationalities and peoples, a town means 
nothing more than a cluster of houses surrounded by a wall and fortified, 
or the realm of a constable, or the seat of a church ; but to us in New 
England the town was in the beginning, as it is now, the primary organi- 
zation, sovereign in itself. " The colonists had no sooner formed a settle- 
ment, and erected their cabins in convenient proximity to each other, 
than they organized themselves into a town an independent municipality, 
in which every citizen had a voice and a vote." The first duty of these 
organizations, in the minds of our fathers, was the establishment of a 
church ; and the erection of a meeting-house and a school-house received 
their earliest care and attention. It is remarkable and interesting to see 
how, in the little municipalities of New England, all the rights of citizen- 
ship were cherished, and how silently and unostentatiously all the elements 
of a free state were fixed and developed. Starting away from the original 
colonies, they planted themselves in the wilderness, and assumed at once 
the duty of independent organizations. Their citizens, in town meeting 
assembled, had the control of all matters relating to their civil and criminal 
jurisdiction. " In the New England colonies the towns were combined 
in counties long after their establishment and representation as towns ; 
so that the county here was a collection of towns, rather than the town a 
subdivision of a county." This system of town organization is maintained 
throughout New England to the present day, constituting one of the most 
interesting features of the civil polity of this section of our country. Says 
Barry, in his '• History of Massachusetts," " Each (town) sustained a 
relation to the whole, analogous to that which the States of our Union 
hold respectively to the central power, or the Constitution of the United 
States." Says Palfrey, in his " History of New England," " With some- 
thing of the same propriety with which the nation may be said to be a 
confederacy of republics called States, each New England State may be 
described as a confederacy of minor republics called towns." Neither in 
New York, with its great landed properties, at first held and occupied by 
a kind of feudal tenure, and afterwards with its counties ; nor in the 
Western States, where- the town survey carries with it no local political 
authority ; nor in the South, where the county organization is the one 
which governs local matters, can be found that form of self-government 
which gives to the New England towns their individuality, and which has 
enabled them to enroll their names on the brightest pages of American 
history. How, in the olden time, they cherished the church and built the 
meeting-house ; how they fostered education and erected the school-house ; 
how they selected their wisest and bravest men for the public councils ; 
how they resolved for freedom in open town-meeting ; how they hurled 
defiance at the oppressor, and sprang up, an army of defiant communities, 
each one feeling its responsibility, and ready and anxious to assume it ! 
Would you study the valor of your country in its earlier days ? Go to the 



town records of New England. Would you learn where the leaders and 
statesmen were taught their lesson of independence and nationality? Read 
the recorded resolves of the New England towns. The origin and orga- 
nization of these New England towns were by no means uniform. In 
some instances they were founded immediately on the landing of the 
colonists, out of lands conferred upon them by their charter. In other 
instances, they were made up by grants of land to an offshoot from the 
parent colony, whose enterprise consisted in organizing a new town. In 
other instances, grants of land were made from time to time to individuals 
and corporations for farms and other purposes, which grants were after- 
wards consolidated into townships. In this last manner grew up that large 
town organization known as Dunstable. It occupied one of the most 
beautiful sections of New England. " To the great Indian tribes the 
Merrimack and Nashua Rivers were as well known as they are to us. 
From the great lake of New Hampshire to the sea ran for them the strong 
and flashing river, whose waters abounded with fish of the best variety, 
and whose banks were diversified with warm and sunny slopes, fertile 
valleys, and tree-crowned hills. 

" To the white explorers these lands presented great attractions ; and 
so in 1659 and 1660, and on to 1673, grants of land were made in these 
regions from time to time to the explorers Davis and Johnson, to Mrs. 
Anna Lane, to John Wilson, to the town of Charlestown for a ' School 
Farm,' to John Whiting, to Phinehas Pratt and others, to Gov. Endecott, 
to Henry Kimball, to Samuel Scarlett, to Joseph and Thomas Wheeler, to 
the ' Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston,' and to others 
of less chivalry and less note. It was the proprietors of these farms and 
others disposed to settle here, who, in September, 1673, presented a 
petition to the General Assembly that they might be ' in a way for the 
support of the public ordinances of God,' for without which the greatest 
part of the year they will be deprived of, the farms lying so far remote 
from any towns." The petition was granted upon the conditions which 
were then universally inserted in the charters, viz., "that the grantees 
should settle the plantation, procure a minister within three years, and 
reserve a farm for the use of the colony." 

HOW DUNSTABLE WAS FORMED. 

The township of Dunstable, thus chartered, embraced a very large 
tract, probably more than two hundred square miles, including the towns 
of Nashua, Nashville, Hudson, Hollis, Dunstable, and Tyngsborough, 
besides portions of the towns of Amherst, Milford, Merrimac, Ljtchfield, 
Londonderry, Pelham, BrookUne, Pepperell, and Townsend, and formed 
a part of the county of Middlesex. It extended ten or twelve miles 
west of Merrimack River, and from three to five miles east of it, 
and its average length north and south was from twelve to fourteen 
miles. The present city of Nashua occupies very nearly the centre 



of the original township. In 1674, because there was "very httle medo 
left except what is already granted to the ffarmers," the easterly line 
of the township was extended to Beaver Brook by an additional grant 
from the General Court, and the town was called Dunstable It received 
its name in compliment to Mrs. Mary Tyng, wife of Hon. Edward 
Tyng, one of the magistrates of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
who came from Dunstable, England. This extensive tract of land, thus 
incorporated and thus named, has been subjected to many divisions. 
In 1 731 the inhabitants on the east side of the river petitioned to be set 
off, which petition was granted, and a new town was created by the As- 
sembly of Massachusetts, called Nottingham. In 1733 a part of the town 
lying west of Merrimack River was incorporated into a township by the 
name of Rumford, but soon after was called Merrimac. In 1734 Litch- 
field was set off and incorporated, because the inhabitants there had, as 
they said, "supported a minister for some time." In 1736 Hollis was set 
off from Dunstable; and in 1734 Amherst was settled and incorporated. 
In 1732 Townsend was incorporated, taking in the southerly part of the 
town, including Pepperell. Thus township after township had become 
parcelled out from the original body of "old Dunstable," until in 1740 
the broad and goodly plantation was reduced to that portion only which is 
now embraced within the limits of Nashua and Nashville, Tyngsborough 
and Dunstable. At length the boundary line between New Hampshire 
and Massachusetts was established in 1741, severing Dunstable very 
nearly in the middle, and leaving the town of Nashua within the limits of 
New Hampshire. To the township of Dunstable in Massachusetts, where 
we are now assembled, have since been added portions of the town of 
Groton, the first portion having been set off Feb. 25, 1793, and the second 
Feb. 15, 1820, for the convenience of the inhabitants, and that the bound- 
ary lines might be straightened. 

EARLY SETTLERS. 

Among the original proprietors of this land we find the names of many 
of the leading men in the colony, some of whom, with the children and 
friends of others, removed here and took up their abode at an early period. 
Of this number we find Governor Dudley, who married a daughter of Hon. 
Edward Tyng, of this town ; Rev. Thomas Weld, who was the first min- 
ister, and married another daughter ; Thomas Brattle, Peter Bulkely, 
Hezekiah Usher, Elisha Hutchinson, Francis Cook, and others who were 
assistants and magistrates. Many of the first settlers belonged to Boston 
and its vicinity, a circumstance which gavfe strength and influence to the 
infant plantation. 

EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 

Of the motives and manners and customs of those who founded this 
town let me here say a word. They formed a part of that large body of 



5 

Dissenters, who, under various names, came to New England and settled 
the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. They came, it is true, 
to enjoy religious freedom, but they also sought a civil organization, 
founded upon the right of every man to a voice in the government under 
which he lives. In the charters of all the towns granted by the General 
Court, it was provided that the grantees were '' to procure and maintain an 
able and orthodox minister amongst them," and to build a meeting-house 
within three years. " This was their motive. In all their customs they were 
obliged to exercise the utmost simplicity, and they voluntarily regulated 
their conduct by those formal rules which, in their day, constituted the 
Puritan's guide through the world. We are told, as an illustration of their 
character and manners, that by the laws of the colony in 1651, "dancing 
at weddings " was forbidden. In 1660 William Walker was imprisoned a 
month "for courting a maid without the leave of her parents." In i(^7S, 
because "there is manifest pride appearing in our streets," the wearing of 
" long hair or periwigs," and also " superstitious ribands " used to tie up and 
decorate the hair, were forbidden under severe penalties ; men, too, were 
forbidden to "keep Christmas," because it was a " Popish custom." In 
.1677 an act was passed to prevent " the profaneness " of "turning the back 
upon the public worship before it is finished and the blessing pronounced." 
Towns were directed to erect " a cage " near the meeting-house, and in 
this all offenders against the sanctity of the Sabbath were confined. 

At the same time children were directed to be placed in a particular 
part of the meeting-house, apart by themselves, and tithing-men were 
ordered to be chosen, whose duty it should be to take care of them. So 
strict were they in their observance of the Sabbath, that John Atherton, 
a soldier of Col. Tyng's company, was fined by him forty shillings for 
" wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes," which chafed his feet 
upon the march ; and those who neglected to attend meeting for three 
months were publicly whipped. Even in Harvard College students were 
whipped for grave offences in the chapel in the presence of students and 
professors, and prayers were had before and after the infliction of the 
punishment. As the settlers of Dunstable are described in the petition as 
" of soberly and orderly conversation," we may suppose that these laws 
and customs were rigidly enforced. 

MODES OF LIVING. 

Perhaps a word upon the subsistence and diet of your ancestors may 
interest you here. Palfrey tells us that " in the early days of New England 
wheaten bread was not so uncommon as it afterwards became," but its 
place was largely supplied by preparations of Indian corn. A mixture of 
two parts of the meal of this grain with one part of rye has continued, 
until far into the present century, to furnish the bread of the great body 
of the people. In the beginning there was but a sparing consumption of 
butcher's meat. The multiplication of flocks for their wool, and of herds 



for draught and for milk, was an important care, and they generally bore 
a high money value. Game and fish to a considerable extent supplied 
the want of animal food. Next to these, swine and poultry, fowls, ducks, 
geese, and turkeys, were in common use earher than other kinds of flesh 
meat. The New-Englander of the present time, who, in whatever rank of 
life, would be at a loss without his tea or coffee twice at least in every 
day, pities the hardships of his ancestors, who almost universally, for a 
century and a half, made their morning and evening repast on boiled 
Indian meal and milk, or a porridge, or a broth made of pease or beans 
and flavored by being boiled with salted beef or pork. Beer, however, 
which was brewed in families, was accounted a necessary of life, and the 
orchards soon yielded a bountiful supply of cider. Wine and rum found 
a ready market as soon as they were brought from abroad ; and tobacco 
and legislation had a long conflict, in which the latter at last gave way. 

POPULATION. 

It is difficult to realize how feeble and few were the colonists at the 
time when this town was passing out of its confederation of farms into an 
organized corporation. There were then probably " in New England 
from forty thousand to forty-five thousand English people. Of this num- 
ber twenty-five thousand may have belonged to Massachusetts, ten thou- 
sand to Connecticut, as newly constituted, five thousand to Plymouth, and 
three thousand to Rhode Island. They inhabited ninety towns, of which 
four were in Rhode Island, twelve in Plymouth, twenty-two in Connec- 
ticut, and the rest in Massachusetts. . . . Connecticut, according to 
the account sent home by the royal commissioners, had many scattering 
towns not worthy of their names, and a scholar to their minister in every 
town or village. In Rhode Island, they said, were the best English grass 
and most sheep, the ground very fruitful, ewes bringing ordinarily two 
lambs, corn yielding eighty for one, and in some places they had had corn 
twenty-six years together without manuring. In this province only they 
had not any places set apart for the worship of God ; there being so many 
subdivided sects they could not agree to meet together in one place, but, 
according to their several judgments, they sometimes associated in one 
house, sometimes in another. In Plymouth it was the practice to persuade 
men, sometimes to compel them, to be freemen, — so far were they from 
hindering any. They had about twelve small towns, one saw-mill for 
boards, one bloomary for iron, neither good river nor good harbor, nor 
any place of strength ; they were so poor they were unable to maintain 
scholars to their ministry, but were necessitated to make use of a gifted 
brother in some places. The commodities of Massachusetts were fish, 
which was sent into France, Spain, and the Straits, pipe-staves, masts, 
fir boards, some pitch and tar, pork, beef, horses, and corn, which they sent 
to Virginia, Barbadoes, etc., and took tobacco and sugar for payment, which 
they often sent for England. There was good store of iron made in the 



province. In the Piscataqua towns were exxellent masts gotten, . . . 
and upon the river were above twenty saw-mills, and there were great 
stores of pipe-staves made and great store of good timber spoiled. In 
Maine there were but few towns, and those much scattered ; they were 
rather farms than towns. In the Duke of York's province beyond the 
Kennebec there were three small plantations, the biggest of which had 
not above thirty houses in it, and those very mean ones too, and spread 
over eight miles at least. Those people were, for the most part, fisher- 
men, and never had any government among them ; most of them were 
such as had fled hither to avoid justice. In Boston, the principal town 
of the country, the houses were generally wooden, the streets crooked, 
with little decency and no uniformity ; and there neither months, days, 
seasons of the year, churches, nor rivers were known by their English 
names. At Cambridge they had a wooden college, and in the yard a 
brick pile of two bayes for the Indians, where the commissioners saw but 
one. They said they had three more at school. It might be feared this 
college might afford as many schismatics to the church and the corpora- 
tion, as many rebels to the king, as formerly they had done if not timely 
prevented." 

ACTION OF THE TOWN AFTER THE DIVISION OF MASSACHUSETTS AND 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

The division of the original township and the adjustment of the bound- 
ary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire by no means removed 
all the difhculties which had attended the course of the town thus far, 
O.n the 1 2th of March, 174.3, 3- town meeting was held at the house of 
Ebenezer Kendall, not only '' to raise money to defray ye charges of said 
town, and to support ye Gospell," but also "to choose a committee to 
treat with a committee in the District of Dunstable, if they choose one, 
to examine the debts and credit of ye town and to know how they stood 
before the line was run between ye Province of Massachusetts Bay and 
New Hampshire." Deacon John Taylor, Ebenezer Parkhurst, and Capt. 
John Cummings were the committee. A large part of the business of the 
town for several years, at the time I refer to, consisted in running lines, 
and endeavoring to adjust the debts and claims, interspersed with debates 
upon building meeting-houses and laying out burying-grounds. Now and 
then a young and ambitious community, which had started off and set 
up on its own account, expressed a desire to return to the old roof-tree; 
and it was found necessary to vote, in 1743, noi to annex Nottingham, 
which had been set off but twelve years previous. The places for public 
worship seem to have been steadily provided, either in some private 
house or barn, or in a building erected for that purpose. Preaching the 
people would have at any rate. Of education, I cannot say quite as much. 
The burden was, perhaps, at times, a little too heavy for that primitive 
people, and so in 1769 they voted not to raise any money for the support 



o£ a school, at one meeting, but at another they voted to spend £10 for a 
school, and in the same breath, mindful of their dangers and necessities, 
they voted £b and loj. for ammunition. In 1771 they raised ^24 for a 
school, and ^60 for the highways. In 1774 it was voted not to raise 
money for schools, But in the midst of all the trials and the impov- 
erishment of the Revolutionary war, they voted, March 5, 1778, "to raise 
and be assessed ^50 for the support of a school," recognizing the value 
of a cultivated mind in a community assuming the duties and enjoying the 
rights of a free people. I am also reminded by their record that they 
intended to hold their public servants to a strict accountability, for in 
1751 an article was inserted in the warrant for a town meeting, " To 
choose a committee to search John Stealls account as town treasurer" ; 
but John Steall, in spite of his name, turned up an honest man, and the 
article was dismissed from the warrant. 

THE HEROISM OF THE TOWN. 

But not in matters relating to the religious and civil and educational 
interests of the town alone were your ancestors engaged, from the earliest 
settlement in 1655 to the period to which I have now arrived. The lands 
were too fertile, and the rivers too fair, and the forests too well stocked 
with game, to be abandoned without a struggle on the part of those abo- 
riginal occupants who had enjoyed their possession for many generations. 
The popular rights there asserted, as the town grew into a definite civil 
organization, were not to be established without a blow ; and later still, 
the integrity of that government which had been founded at such a vast 
expense of blood and treasure, and by the exercise of so much study, 
sagacity, and wisdom, was not to be preserved except by the devotion and 
valor of loyal men in arms. In every crisis occurring within a century 
and three quarters of its existence — now in struggle with a savage foe, 
now in strife against the tyrant and the oppressor, and now in deadly con- 
flict with the traitor — Dunstable has always done her duty well. As early 
as July 5, 1689, your ancestors were called to arms against that savage 
band, which, having attacked Dover and having killed Major Waldron and 
his men. turned their bloody attention towards this town. In the summer 
of 1691 this attack was renewed, and in the month of September of that 
year, one hundred and eighty-two years ago, the entire family of Joseph 
Hassell was slain, — the first sacrifice offered up here in the cause of civ- 
ilization, — whose simple monument has long since been obliterated by the 
hand of industry, and whose sad and touching story alone remains. The 
town now became a garrison. The General Court granted aid for the 
support of its church, and made a liberal abatement of its State tax. Upon 
Jonathan Tyng, that name so long honored and beloved here ana so con- 
spicuous for generations in the annals of our country, fell the duty of pre- 
serving the very existence of the place, as commander of the fortifications 
erected to protect it. That this war, which lasted until 1698, was full of 



thrilling and painful incident in this town, we have every reason to sup- 
pose, although we find no written record, and the tradition was long ago 
forgotten ; but we do know that here Joe English performed his won- 
derful exploits, and that Mrs. Dustin, who was captured at Haverhill, and 
who slew her captors, ten in number, at the mouth of the Contoocook 
River, found her first refuge as she wandered down the valley of the Mer- 
rimack on her way homeward, in the house of old John Lovewell, " father 
of worthy Capt. Lovewell," which stood on the side of Salmon Brook, a 
few feet northeast of the AUds Bridge. When, in 1703, the Indian hos- 
tilities were renewed, and the General Assembly offered £^0 for every 
Indian scalp, it was Capt. Jonathan Tyng, of Dunstable, who first accepted 
the tender, and made a good winter's work by going to their headquarters 
a.t Pequawkett, securing five scalps, and receiving therefor ^200. It was 
in this war that the family of Robert Parris was massacred, two little girls 
alone escaping by fleeing to the cellar and hiding in a hogshead (who 
cannot hear their little hearts beating in agony amidst the terrors which 
surrounded their dark and narrow retreat ?), one of whom was preserved 
to become ancestress of the useful and distinguished family of Goffes, so 
well known here and in New Hampshire. It was in this war that a band 
of Mohawks surprised your garrisons and murdered your people, and in 
which, I am proud to say, the men of Essex County came to your rescue 
and defence. It was in this war, which lasted until 1713, a period of 
twenty years, that the population of this town was reduced one half, but 
thirteen families and eighty-six persons remaining ; that the entire popu- 
lation was obliged to live in garrison ; and that fear and desolation reigned 
everywhere, as the savages hung upon the skirts of the English villages 
" like lightning on the edge of a cloud." 

lovewell's fight. 
In 1724 a contest broke out with the Indians, in which Dunstable seems 
to have been principally interested from beginning to end, and in which 
the warriors of Dunstable bore a most conspicuous part. The strife began 
with an attack by the English on the town of Norridgewock, Me., during 
which a band of Mohawks turned upon this town, and commenced a story 
of cruelty, adventure, and valor hardly equalled in history. The capture 
of Nathan Cross and Thomas Blanchard began the fray, which resulted in 
the death of Lieut. Ebenezer French, Thomas Lund, Oliver Farwell, and 
Ebenezer Cummings, of Dunstable, whose burial-place is still marked by 
a monument not far from the State line. It was in consequence of this 
attack that John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and Jonathan Robbins, of this 
town, petitioned the General Assembly for leave to raise a company, and 
to scout against the Indians. Their petition was granted, changing the 
bounty for scalps from ^^^50 to ^100, and John Lovewell organized his 
expedition. . His first successful march into the Pequawkett region was 
in December, 1724, from which he returned to organize anotiier and 



10 

larger expedition, on which he set out in February, 1725, and which 
resulted in the entire destruction of a band of Indians, on the 20th of 
that month, near what is now known as Lovewell's Pond. " Encouraged 
by his former success, and animated still with an uncommon zeal of doing 
what service he could," Lovewell marched a third time into the wilder- 
ness, intending to attack the Pequawketts in their headquarters on the 
Saco River. Early in May, 1725, he set forth with thirty-four men, of 
whom seven were from Dunstable, five from Woburn, seven from Con- 
cord, one from Andover, one from Weston, one from Londonderry, one 
from Billerica, seven from Groton, and two from Haverhill. These brave 
men, who, having reached the scene of action, and holding counsel on the 
subject of attacking a large body of Indians who lay in wait for them, 
declared " that as they had come out on purpose to meet the enemy, they 
would rather trust Providence with their lives and die for their country 
than return without seeing them," were ambushed and nearly all slain, 
Capt. Lovewell falling at the first fire, and his chaplain, Jonathan Frye, 
of Andover, lingering three days after the close of the fight, and dying of 
his wounds in the wilderness. Many a time have I, when a boy, paused 
to rest beneath the shade of a graceful, sturdy, and imposing elm-tree, 
which crowns one of the finest hills of my native town of North Andover, 
and I have mused there upon the sad and tragic story of that young man, 
Jonathan Frye, who, when he left his home to join Capt. Lovewell's expe- 
dition, planted that tree, that he might, as he said, leave his monument 
behind should he fall in the service. The memorial is, indeed, beautiful 
and significant, as in each returning spring, all through this century and a 
half of years, it has crowned itself in honor of his memory who planted it 
"there; but the young man has a higher and more enduring monument 
still, in that it is recorded of him that " worthy and promising," a son of 
Harvard, he laid down his life to prepare the way for the dawn over that 
wilderness of the religion of his Lord and Master, to whom he had dedi- 
cated all his powers. The memory of Capt. Lovewell is as green as the 
opening springtime forest where he fell; and while man sets high value on 
courage and honor and devotion will the poet sing his praise, and the 
historian portray his deeds, and your town will be proud of her son. 
This chivalrous and touching and disastrous struggle closed the long 
series of Indian depredations, in which Dunstable had been threatened so 
often and had suffered so much. 

During the French war, which broke out in 1755, the towns composing 
the original territory of Dunstable did valiant service, true to their tra- 
ditions, and faithful to the memory of their illustrious dead. In the 
adventures of that war, in which John Stark commenced his career in 
connection with the men of Dunstable, the names of Lovewell, Blanchard, 
Johnson, Farwell, French, and Goffe, names possessed and cherished by 
you still, are foremost. And now the great events of the American Revo- 
lution began, both in the council and on the field. I find that on Oct. 3, 



1 1 

1774, while this town "chose Capt. John Tyng to represent the town in 
the great and general court or assembly, to be held and kept at the court 
house in Salem, upon Wednesday, the fifth day of October," the inhabi- 
tants also voted that " John Tyng and James Tyng serve for this town in 
the Provincial Congress, to be held in Concord on Tuesday, the eleventh 
day of October," two for one in favor of the uprising patriots. With 
this, I think, we ought to be content. 

On the eleventh day of January, 1775, John Tyng and James Tyng 
were chosen to represent the town in a Provincial Congress, to be held in 
Cambridge on the first day of February, and it was voted " that the 
following committee of inspection of nine persons be appointed to carry 
into execution, in the town of Dunstable, the agreement and association 
of the late respectable Continental Congress. John Tyng and James 
Tyng, Esqrs., and Messrs. Joseph Danforth, Nathaniel Holden, William 
Gordon, Reuben Butterfield, Jacob Fletcher, Leonard [Butterfield], and 
Joel Parkhurst were chosen as this committee." On the 12th of June, 
1775) John Tyng was, on account of feeble health, obliged to resign his 
seat in the Provincial Congress at Watertown, and Joel Parkhurst was 
elected to fill his place. There are frequent indications on your town- 
books of the advancing spirit of your ancestors in the cause of independ- 
ence. Feb. 14, 1776, for instance, the town-meeting was called '"in His 
Majesty's name " ; May 15 it was called " in the name of the Government 
and people of ye Massachusetts Bay"; Sept. 20, "In the name of the 
Government and People of the Massachusetts State" ; and Oct. 3, 1776, 
the town voted to recommend the adoption of a State Constitution. 

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Meanwhile the spirit of independence grew warmer and warmer, and 
the idea of American nationality filled the minds of the people of the 
town. The Declaration of Independence had not yet set forth the 
wrongs of the colonies, it is true, nor had it proclaimed to the world 
the intention and ultimate object of the American people in the great 
contest then raging ; but to the people of Dunstable, these wrongs were 
familiar, and their breasts were animated by those patriotic sentiments 
which had been uttered in such eloquent tones in Faneuil Hall, and had 
found such a warm response on the floor of the Continental Congress, 
and so this town spoke and made its record for the time. If you will 
turn to your town-books you will find the following entry : — 

"At a meeting of y'^ Town of Dunstable on June S"', 1776 [nearly a 
month before the Declaration of Independence], chose Mr. Joel Park- 
hurst, Moderator : — Then chose Major Ebenezer Bancroft, Capt. Reuben 
Butterfield, and Mr. Timothy Read, a committee to prepare ye Draught 
of a vote which is as follows: — At a time when ye most imi^ortant 
Questions that ever were agitated Before y'' Representative Body of 
this Colony, Touching its Liberties and privileges, will demand your 



12 

attention, as we your constituents are called upon to instruct yon in 
every Important Point of Duty you may be called to act upon, viz : 
of yc Colonyes being Declared Independent of Grate Brittan when 
we reflect upon the States of America, when our Forefathers first 
came over here, and y^ cause for which they came, and The Treatment 
of Grate Brittan Towards us Ever since, But especially of Late when 
our Humble Petition to ye King of Grate Brittan for our just Rights 
Repeatdly Rejected with Disdain and tier and sword, Takeing place 
upon our Brethren of this Land. He and His Parliament not only 
Deceavingthe People of Grate Brittan but attempting To hier ye natives 
of this Land to Butcher us, and for what we know hath Hired all ye 
covitous. Bloodthirsty souls upon ye face of ye whole earth to come 
against us in order to rob us of Life and fortune, ye contemplation of 
which fills our brests [with] Abhorrence and Disdain against ye Power 
that is thus acting we then will joyn with our brethren of America, in 
Pressing such measures as the Hon'ble the Continental Congress shall 
adopt if it is that of Independence of Grate Brittan and you will Equip 
yourself as a member of Society and will use your utmost Indeavors in 
promoting the cause of America not in the least doubting your abilities. 
The above being Red to ye Town ye Question being put whether ye same 
Be given as advice to ye present Representative of this Town passed in 
the affirmative. Nem. Con. 

" Entered by 

"JosiAH Blodgett Jr., 

" Town Clerk.'''' 

I think I see them now, those earnest and manly sons of the Puritan 
warriors and teachers, who had filled the pulpits and town-houses and 
armies of our land during a century of protest and trial and self-sacrifice 
and defiance, rising higher and higher in their indignant sense of duty as 
the fierce periods which I have just read to you were launched forth upon 
an approving town-meeting here by that simple and sturdy chairman. And 
can you not feel with them the hot blood of the warrior Lovewell coursing 
through their veins as the ardent declaration went on ? The memory of 
long and weary trials in the cause of civilization there in that wilderness, 
of the precepts of those old teachers who were gone, of the bloody seas 
through which they had been brought to their great assertion, of the 
wrongs of the past, — this, and their glowing understanding of the promise 
of the present hour before them, and of the future, all inspired their 
minds with wisdom and their hearts with courage for that occasion. 

From their humble homes they had stepped forth, not to follow but to 
lead, not to listen but to speak, not to be taught but to teach mankind to 
be true to the highest demands of a free and independent spirit. It was 
to the voice of such assemblies as this that our fathers of the Revolution 
listened ; it was the wisdom of such assemblies that guided their councils, 
and gave the American people their greatness. 



13 



WHAT TROOPS THEY RAISED. 
True to this spirit and inspired by this language, Dunstable continued 
to supply men to the army, voting, in 1777, "to raise men for the Conti- 
nental army," and also voting " not to allow those men that hired men 
into the Continental army for 1776, equal to others." It was also voted, 
March 5, 1781, "to allow the committee to procure beef for the army." 
Passing beyond this practical service, the town voted " to recommend the 
adoption of a state constitution," Oct. 3, 1776. In all these acts and declar- 
ations we cannot but be struck with the important position assumed by the 
towns in those early days, and the important part they performed; nor 
can we fail to look with profound interest on the intimate relations existing 
between the people and their representatives, and the power and persist- 
ency with which the popular voice was continually raised for the guidance 
and instruction of the rulers. In the war of 1812 the town voted " tliat 
each soldier in the town of Dunstable that shall be called into the actual 
service of the United States shall be allowed, out of the town treasury, a 
sum sufficient to make his pay fifteen dollars per month for such time as 
he shall be so actually engaged, including the pay allowed by government." 

THE CIVIL WAR. * 

And when the country, to the foundation and independence and honor 
of which Dunstable had devoted herself through the generations of two 
centuries, was threatened with disruption, the spirit which had responded 
so warmly for independence roused itself at once for its safety and protec- 
tion. To the repose of peace your people had long been accustomed, so 
long that the front of war was almost unknown, even when presented in 
your midst ; but rising with the occasion, this little community decimated 
itself for the loyal armies, furnishing forty-three men to the country's 
service and appropriating more than $10,000 out of the treasury of the 
town for the support and comfort of the soldiers. The votes recorded 
in your town-books, commencing in July, 1862, with the offer of a bounty 
of one hundred dollars to each volunteer, and ending April, 1864, with a 
vote increasing the bounty to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, mani- 
fest a patriotic calmness and devotion in the most trying hour of the war. 

CIVIL MATTERS IN THE TOWN, 

Towards the close of the Revolutionary war, the question of a consti- 
tution for the State of Massachusetts was submitted to the voters of the 
several towns in the commonwealth. In Dunstable a town-meeting was 
called on May 15, 1780, and adjourned to Tuesday, May 30, to consider 
the several articles of the constitution reported by the convention which 
had prepared it. The objections are so remarkable and significant that 
I shall lay them before you, as an illustration of the positive views and 
sentiments of those times. Joel Parkhurst having been chosen moderator 



14 

in the place of John Tyng, Esq., who was unavoidably absent, "the meet- 
ing proceeded to consider the second and third articles, wherein they 
engage full protection to all denominations of Christians ; which sentences 
are so general as to engage protection to the idolatrous worshippers of 
the Church of Rome. The questions being put, there appeared twenty- 
three for an amendment, none against it. 

" The second objection was to the sixteenth article in said bill of right, 
as to the liberty of the press, as there being no restraint therein it maybe 
made up to the dishonor of God, by printing heresy and so forth, and 
injurious to private character. The question being put, twenty-six ap- 
peared for an amendment, none for the article as it now stands. 

** The third objection was to having so large a number of councillors 
and senators as forty, whereas twenty-eight, under the former constitution, 
they understood, answered every purpose required of that body ; uj^on the 
question there appeared twelve for an amendment." 

"The fourth objection was relative to the governor's power of marching 
the militia to any part of the State, without the advice or consent of any. 
The amendment proposed was that when the governor should find it need- 
ful to march the militia from and about Boston more than one hundred 
miles, it should be by advice and consent of his council and not other- 
wise, and by the same advice and consent, to have full power to march 
them to the assistance of any neighboring State, in the recess of the 
General Court, when there appeared eleven for the amendment. 

" The fifth objection was to the appointment of all judicial officers, the 
attorney-general, the solicitor-general, all sheriflfs, coroners, and registers 
of probate resting in the hands of the governor and council, but held it a 
right of the people at large to choose them; upon this question, seven for 
an amendment and six against it. 

" The sixth objection was to the declaration to be made and subscribed 
by the governor, lieutenant-governor, council, Senate and House of 
Representatives, before they proceed to execute the duties of their office, 
which is to declare themselves to be of the Christian religion, reasons 
offered for said objections were these, that thereby the government would 
be confined to Protestants ; upon the question there appeared nineteen 
for the amendment, and none in the negative. 

" The seventh objection was to the form of oath prescribed ; the amend- 
ment proposed was this : to place the words 'by the Living God,' taken 
in said oath as is required in His word ; thirteen for amendment." 

"The eighth objection was that the denomination of people called 
Quakers being admitted to office upon an affirmation without taking oath 
in manner and form as required of others ; upon the question, there 
appeared twelve for the amendment and none against it. 

" The ninth obj^ection was to the time proposed for the revisal of the 
constitution if it should take place, but proposed to have this amendment, 
that precepts be issued by the General Court for a change of delegates 



15 

for that purpose in seven years from this time ; the question was then 
put whether the town would approve of said constitution or form of 
government, if amended for substance as pointed out in this return, when 
there appeared thirteen in favor of it taking place, and not one to the 
contrary." 

I think it is evident that your ancestors believed in an economical gov- 
ernment, were opposed to military despotism and Caesarism, did not ap- 
prove of a powerful executive, had strong Puritan faith and no great 
love for Quakers or Catholics, and meant to make an oath as bindin"' 
as possible. 

RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 

I have already stated that in the settlement of New England, religion 
was at the very foundation, and I have depicted to you some of the early 
struggles in this community to provide for the preaching of the gospel. 
The first meeting-house was erected in 1678, and was probably built of 
logs. In May, 1679. Rev. Thomas Weld was employed here as minister. 
He married Hannah, daughter of Hon. Edward Tyng. In 1684 a new 
meeting-house was erected, and he was ordained in December, 1685. The 
name of Jonathan Tyng heads the list of church members. Mr. Weld 
died in 1702, at the age of fifty, leaving a high reputation as a scholar and 
preacher. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Hunt in 1705, by Rev. 
Samuel Parris, of witchcraft fame, in 1708, by Rev. Amos Cheever in 1713, 
on a salary of ^40 per year, by the Rev. Jona. Peirpoint in 1717, by Rev. 
Nathaniel Prentice in 1720. These clergymen were, many of them, 
graduates of Harvard, were firm in the Calvinistic faith, and exerted a 
good influence on the community. They exercised an exemplary economy 
in their modes of living, and they cultivated those qualities of mind and 
heart in their children which made the families of the clergy of that early 
day nurseries of many of the most useful, substantial, and reliable char- 
acteristics of the New England colonies. From the time to which I have 
alluded until our own day, the condition of church affairs here has been 
generally peaceable, and the temper of pastor and people has not been 
controversial. In fact, I find but one notable event, to which I can call 
your attention, and that is so interesting, so full of instruction and sound 
suggestion, such an illustration of that honesty and fidelity which become 
a public servant, that I desire to state it fully here. As recorded in your 
town-books, it is as follows : — 

'' The committee chosen by the Town of Dunstable, at their last meet- 
ing, Sept. 2, 1811, to represent to and consult with the Rev'd Joshua 
Heywood respecting the state of public worship in the town, have attended 
to that service and offer the following statement of the Rev'd Mr. Hey- 
wood as their report. 

" Zebedee Kendall "I 
MiCAH Eldredge ^ 

♦ Nathaniel Cummings ( 

John Ciianey j 

'■ Dunstable, Sept. 14, iSii." 



i6 

" To THK Inhabitants of the Town of Dunstable : 

" GetitleDien, — Whereas, your committee chosen by you in town meet- 
ing, the 2d of September, 1811, have represented to and consulted with 
me on the situation of the town respecting public worship, and having 
represented to me that there are in the minds of many, apprehensions of 
pecuniary embarrassment, in consequence of an Act passed at the last 
session of the General Court of this commonwealth, relating to religious 
freedom, I do, with their advice and concurrence, make the following 
statement to you : — 

" As I did, in my answer to the call given me to settle as a gospel 
minister in this place, bring to your view the impropriety of making the 
stipulation between a people and their minister a matter of pecuniary 
speculation, and as you complied with it, I ever thought that we were 
bound on both sides never to do any such thing. I do, therefore, now 
most solemnly record my protest against it. 

" But conceiving it to be the duty of a people and their minister to be 
always helpful to each other under all difficulties and embarrassments, to 
perform this duty, therefore, toward you, now laboring under apprehen- 
sions of embarrassments, I propose to you that provided the said Act of 
the General Court above mentioned, shall not be repealed, but be put in 
execution to your damage, so that your ministerial taxes shall be increased 
thereby upon the valuation of your estates, and provided there shall be a 
majority of the town, who will attend the public worship of God with the 
Congregational Church of Christ, as heretofore done in the house now 
built for that purpose, under the regular administration thereof, which, by 
Divine Providence, shall be provided, I will relinquish so much of my 
salary for the present year, as the increase upon their ministerial taxes 
shall be. The year to begin the ist of iVIarch, 181 1, and end the ist of 
March, 181 2. That no encouragement be taken herefrom to the damage 
of the town, I reserve the consideration of any relinquishment in future 
years, to my own judgment of the circumstances which may then exist. 

" My design and intent in this proposal and engagement, is to relieve 
the town from their present apprehensions and embarrassment, and to 
have them attend on the public worship of God in as orderly and regular 
a manner as they can under the present difficulties, and to prevent the 
introduction of such irregularities as would be to the damage of the town 
and church. If this proposal gives satisfaction to your minds and meets 
your approbation, and you use your endeavors to carry the things pro- 
posed into effect, then this instrument, by me signed, shall be in full 
force, otherwise it shall be void and of no effect. 

"Joshua Heywoud. 

"Dunstable, Sept. ii, 1811." 

Although I find no recorded words of the clergy of Dunstable, no vig- 
orous appeals in great public crises, no contributions of theirs to the 
controversial literature of their day, I can still read in the popular charac- 



17 

teristics of this town, in the unflinching courage and energy of your early 
ancestors, in the steady and long-continued rectitude of the public men 
here engaged in the councils of both town and State, in the constant 
recognition of the value of religion and education, — I can read in all this 
the salutary influence of a high-toned and pious succession of Christian 
ministers within your borders. But of none, either here or elsewhere, can 
higher praise be uttered than of Joshua Heywood, who, recognizing the 
burdens which pressed upon his people, declined to avail himself of any 
statute for his pecuniary advantage, refusing to make " the stipulation 
between a people and their minister a matter of pecuniary speculation," 
and appealing to their sense of honor to stand by that contract which he 
made with them, and they with him, in the beginning, even though it 
might be to his own loss. If the theology and ethics of this town have 
furnished this and this alone as their contribution to the best guiding 
principle of the land, then has it not been built in vain. I commend the 
conscience and temper and spirit of Mr. Heywood to all the public ser- 
vants of our land, high and low, to all who feel and know that a virtuous 
and honorable republic is the highest glory of man, and that a corrupt 
republic is his deepest shame. 

DISTINGUISHED MEN. 

I should not be doing justice to this town, and discharging my duty on 
this occasion in accordance with your best sentiments, did I fail to remind 
you of some, a few at least, of those men of mark whose names are inti- 
mately connected with your history. In all my recital of the important 
events in your earlier annals you must have noticed the prominence and 
importance attached to the name of Tyng. The founder of the family 
here was Hon. Edward Tyng, who died Dec. 28, 1681, aged eighty-one 
years. Col. Tyng was born in Dunstable, England, in 1600, settled in 
Boston as a merchant in 1639, was representative in 1661 and 1662, assist- 
ant from 1668 to 168 1, and colonel of the Suffolk regiment. He left six 
children, two sons and four daughters. His sons were prominent in their 
dav, and his daughters will be remembered as among the foremost women 
of their time ; Hannah having married Rev. Thomas Weld, a leading 
clergyman of this town and of the colony ; Eunice being the wife of 
President Willard, of Harvard College ; and Rebecca having married 
Gov. Dudley. Col. Tyng had the strength, energy, and courage of a 
leading and successful colonist, had enterprise enough to leave the Old 
World for the opportunities of the New, sagacity enough to become a dis- 
tino-uished and prosperous merchant, and strength of character sufficient 
to found a family. He became possessed of lands in this town by early 
grants, and having acquired a fortune by commercial enterprise in his 
manhood, he had the wisdom to retire to the country to enjoy there the 
evenino- of his day. He gave the name to a town in his own honor, and 
in that town his ashes repose. Hon. Jonathan Tyng, the son of Col. 

3 



Edward Tyng, was born Dec. 15, 1642, and died Jan. 19, 1724, aged 
eighty-one. It is said of him, " He was one of the original proprietors of 
the town, and the earliest permanent settler, having remained here alone 
during Philip's War, when every other person had deserted the settlement 
for fear of the Indians." He was a man of great energy and decision of 
character, and of probity and honor. He was one of the council of Sir 
Edward Andros, a royal commissioner under James II, a representative of 
this town and one of its selectmen. It was he to whom the garrisons of the 
town were intrusted during the Indian wars. Two of his sons, John and 
Eleazer, were graduates of Harvard College, and his daughter Mary 
followed the example of many of the attractive and accomplished young 
women of that day, and married the parish minister, Rev. Nathaniel 
Holden. Col. Tyng married Sarah, daughter of Hezekiah Usher, who 
died in 1714. Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of the town, died 
June 9, 1702, aged fifty years. He was born in Roxbury, and was a 
grandson of Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister of that town, who 
came from England in 1632. Mr. Weld, the subject of this notice, grad- 
uated at Harvard in 3671, and studied divinity with Rev. Samuel Danforth, 
and settled in Dunstable in 1678. He married for his first wile Elizabeth, 
daughter of Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield ; and for his second wife 
Hannah Savage, daughter of Hon. Edward Tyng. He was a man of 
great piety, and exerted an elevating influence on the community during 
his long ministry. He was a good representative of that class of men 
who in those days were educated at Harvard, stood by the church, and 
encouraged the schools, and who did so much to give New England that 
character of intelligence and integrity which she has not yet lost, and 
which has been carried by her sons into every corner of our land. 

Amos Kendall, an eminent lawyer and statesman, was born in Dun- 
stable, Aug. 16, 1789, son of Zebedee [Kendall] and his wife. He was 
occupied during his early life, until sixteen years of age, in work on his 
father's farm. His advantages for education were small, and it was not 
until he entered Dartmouth College, in 1807, where he was graduated 
with the highest honors of his class, in 181 1, that he was in any way 
enabled to gratify his love of knowledge. Having taught school in various 
parts of Massachusetts, in order to defray the expenses of his education, 
and having studied law with William B, Richardson, Esq., of Groton, 
afterwards chief justice of New Hampshire, he removed to Kentucky, 
was tutor in the family of Henry Clay, afterwards postmaster of Lexing- 
ton, Ky., and finally editor of the Argus of Western Avierica. While 
living in Kentucky, he did much to develop the common schools of that 
State, and established the school fund now in existence there. His 
ability as an editor and writer attracted the attention of President Jack- 
son, who. in 1829, called him to Washington, where he was successively 
fourth auditor of the treasury department and postmaster general. He 
remained in public life until 1840, when he retired to the duties of his 
profession. 



19 

Mr. Kendall was one of the clearest and most forcible writers of his 
day. His mind was directed by the warmest instincts for the people, and 
by a keen understanding of those doctrines of government which are based 
on popular rights and tend to preserve the popular virtue. His words 
were well known throughout our country, and to him was accorded the 
distinction of clothing the administration of President Jackson with many 
of its finest utterances and many of its noblest appeals. The character 
of Mr. Kendall was pure and admirable. Towards the close of his life he 
formed one of the attractions of Washington, where his mild, blue eye, his 
long, snowy hair, his delicate and slender form, his placid expression, were 
familiar to all, and where his charming conversation was one of the great 
delights of the circle in which he moved. It was this delicacy of his 
moral and physical structure which prevented his being one of the most 
conspicuous, as he was one of the ablest and purest, personages in our 
history. 

CONCLUSION. 

And now, friends and fellow-citizens, this brief story of your town is 
told. I have not explored the remotest recesses of your annals for marks 
of your eccentricity, or for those personal details which, while they amuse 
for the hour, make no appeal to those sentiments of pride and satisfaction 
which should fill the breast of every man who muses by the graves and 
studies the high qualities of his ancestors. I have not forgotten your 
errors, — the local controversies, the existence of slavery here when 
slavery existed everywhere, the shortcomings and the temporary irrita- 
tions ; but I have passed them by, and have endeavored so to deal with 
your history as to fill your minds with respect for your ancestors and 
with a determination to transmit, in more radiant form, the blessed institu- 
tions which you have inherited, to those whose duty it shall be to preserve 
them, and to celebrate them at the next centennial anniversary of the 
settlement of this town. 




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